


RWBY Scout Series: Unified From the Past, For the Future

by LightningDragon



Series: RWBY Scout Series [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24357874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningDragon/pseuds/LightningDragon
Summary: I wanted to take a more personal look at the motivations of the characters and the quiet moments in the hectic lives of Team RWBY. Today we find Blake Belladonna keeping watch over an abandoned village. Enjoy!
Series: RWBY Scout Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745395
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	RWBY Scout Series: Unified From the Past, For the Future

Blake looked around on the roof. The midnight moon shone brightly, lighting up the roof and surrounding areas. She found a nice ledge to sit on, and reached into her bag. Stored away was an important, almost vital piece for any good lookout watch. A tuna sandwich. Now you may be asking, why would you want to eat anything just after midnight? Blake would respond that any time is tuna time.

As Blake ate her midnight snack, she looked out at the scene lit up by said moon. Over the course of the previous day the team had looked out and scouted these ruins and wilderness, but at night the character of the place changed. During the day, the whole area showed nothing but danger and mystery. Tonight, the moon shone a light on the despair of this place. So many lives. So many people. So many stories that began with such a light of hope and promise.

There were the original settlers to this place. Those who left civilization in search of a new home, and hopefully a new life. That ended in tragedy. There was the miners. She felt for the faunus who came here to make a living, even if under horrible working conditions. There story too, was one of hardship and bleak prospects. Then there was the present day. Blake suspected remaining splinters of the White Fang might be hiding out around. A group filled with so much promise, only to end up in its current shape. Any remaining parts of the organization were very different than what the White Fang was founded on. Hell, the difference between before and after the Fall of Beacon was night and day.

Adam had changed the group. Even after Mom and Dad left, even after Sienna took over, the White Fang still held a flicker of light in itself. Though they instilled fear, they at least had the standards and decencies to try to help faunus around the world. Though she detested the methods, the White Fang still was able to make a difference in the world, albeit one that Blake heavily detested. After Blake left, however, things changed. With their willingness to work with humans, their eventual takeover by Adam, the mission went from protecting faunus (again in a twisted and wrong way) to revenge.

The morals of a group solely focused at getting back, evening the score, Blake didn’t have to go over the moral implications and pitfalls of such a mission. Besides, it was obvious that it wouldn’t work, as evidenced by the loss of the White Fang in supporting Salem at Haven Academy. What Blake still couldn’t get herself over, what she had been thinking about for a while now, was why there was almost no resistance to Adam’s new direction. Sure, many of the objections were likely silenced, but it still didn’t explain the strength and dedication many in the group still held. Even after the death of Adam, there were still members of the group who wanted to cause harm to those who stood in faunuskind’s way.

That was why they were here, wasn’t it? Now Blake had come full circle. From helping lead the White Fang against the oppressive forces of the world to helping them contain the threat the group now posed. Blake was not blind to the fact that while what they were doing here was good, while their mission had importance far beyond the borders of this kingdom, they were doing nothing more now other than keep those in power, those who controlled the faunus, those who caused the problems in Mantle a free pass. After team RWBY left here in the morning, they would be put on some other mission to safeguard the kingdom, and by extension Schnee Industries.

While Jacques Schnee mistreated and oppressed, here Blake was, one of the White Fang’s most prominent members, sitting in a ruined village doing the bidding of Atlas, and by extension the Schnees. It didn’t sit well with her. More than any other member of Team RWBY in fact, Blake had the most suspicion of General Ironwood. Something didn’t sit right with her. The upcoming election and all of its controversies? The secrets from Atlas and Ironwood? Heck, even the surprise ceremony graduating the group and getting everyone their Huntsmen and Huntresses licenses felt a bit off to her.

Ironwood represented more than Atlas, more than the army he controlled. Sure, to put blame solely on him would be wrong. But that didn’t neglect the fact that for years, the Atlas military had basically done the Schnee’s and others’ bidding. Putting down peaceful protests, looking the other ways at mistreatments, it was a history told by those in power and those without. While Blake was no longer a member of the White Fang organization, she empathized with many of those still apart of the group in this northernmost kingdom. Despite years of protests and tensions, not much had changed in Atlas.

Blake had finished her sandwich now. She looked out again at the ruined village. She looked out at the abandoned mine. In daylight, she had checked the entrance, though the mine itself was blocked by a past cave-in. This place was full of little places like that, places to hide out, places to stay unnoticed if you were being followed. That was what brought the team out here, wasn’t it? To find out if there was danger to the kingdom hiding out here. Of course, while all General Ironwood saw was a dot on the map, Blake had an understanding of the history of this place, or at least the White Fang’s part in it.

She had heard stories of what the Mantle branch of the White Fang did in this area. Using buildings as makeshift hideouts. Making a makeshift HQ for operations against Mantle and Atlas in the safety of an abandoned village not too far from the kingdom was a great strategy. They could plan operations, gather supplies, rally resistance all from the safety of outside the kingdom’s borders. Using a place where faunus had been exploited to plan and jumpstart action against the exploiters was fitting unto itself.

Of course, the popularity of the hideout became its downfall. Word eventually got to the authorities this place was being used, and a few airstrikes and military operations later would be the end of any sort of usability of this place. The mine itself was bombed, causing the end of the usability for it as a hideout. Many of the houses still standing were taken down too. When General Ironwood informed Team RWBY of the mission to this place, it sent a chill down Blake’s spine for this very reason. Ironwood knew of this place because of the White Fang’s involvement with it. They were now acting just like the oppressors, finding resistance in this village and snuffing it out.

Blake looked back out again. Another quiet night it seemed. She thought she saw some small grimm in the distance, but for now nothing seemed close and/or interested enough to cause problems. That might be part of the story too, wasn’t it? That grimm seemed less interested in this place, allowing the White Fang an easier time setting up? Or maybe that was part of myth, and not the truth.

Blake got comfortable for another boring watch. If nothing would show up, if her watch would be filled with peace and quiet, that was no problem for Blake. As she sat, Blake thought back to the past. She thought back to the challenges integrating back into “normal” society after she left the White Fang. Gaining entrance into Beacon had been a piece of cake, considering her past combat experiences. But becoming “normal” again, not outright attacking those who oppressed faunus, that took a while to get used to. After leaving the group, she felt alone, angry, even admittedly a little scared. Sure, she was a skilled fighter, and with her admittance to Beacon, she had a new home, but the first few weeks at the school were not easy. She had to constantly hide who she was, even to those closest to her. She had to sit by and watch as bullies harassed faunus just for who they were. It took a toll.

Then Sun showed up. Then Blake had that argument with Weiss. Then she ran away, for the first time. During those hours away from the team, away from the school, away from all of the expectations and difficulties, she had a chance to breath. It helped that she had a new friend who understood her a bit at least, even if he was a bit boorish. But during that time, Blake came to the realization that to fully be apart of the team, she had to tell them the truth. For the to trust her, she had to show some trust in them. It worked for a bit. Despite some troubles getting used to this new normal, her friends tried to help her open up. It wasn’t easy, but together they achieved some great things at Beacon. Then Beacon fell.

Everyone knew the story of the Fall of Beacon. How Adam had come back with Cinder and their plans for revenge. How grimm overran the school. She didn’t feel like getting into the scary details tonight. Those memories were some she rarely accessed, for good reason. But she did want to revisit afterwards. After the smoke had cleared. When people had evacuated out of the school and everything had calmed down, she had ran again. Running from fear. Running from the destruction she felt she had a part in causing, even indirectly.

That night, she had looked back at the school, not as a symbol of hope like she saw it as when she got there, but as a symbol of all that was lost. Sure, the loss of Beacon crushed everyone, but with the White Fang’s involvement, it destroyed any sense of hope that Blake could move past her past. Looking at that dragon creature, frozen in time by Ruby, it felt that no matter where she went, the White Fang and Adam would keep following, certain to take her down the path of darkness once more.

Then on that boat, a friend showed himself again. Like the first time she ran, Sun was there. Even when she didn’t want him to be. Even when she felt all was lost, it was the fun-loving goof that Sun was helping her find the light again. His good natured self not only helped Blake get back on her feet emotionally, but also helped her fight back against the White Fang. They turned Ilia to the light. They stopped the attack at Haven. Without him, Blake wouldn’t be back here with Team RWBY, fighting the evils of the world.

Those days in Beacon and even Haven had changed her again. Changed her viewpoint of the world too. Sure, there were evils all around. Yes, even the ones she had a hand in helping create and further. But to rid the world of the evils the world presented, she was going to have to face those evils head on. She and Blake had already faced off with Adam, ending that painful chapter of her life. The Battle of Haven ensured that the White Fang would be less of a danger than ever, and presented an opportunity to rebuild a group based on real ideals over bloodthirsty revenge. The path wouldn’t be easy, but the building blocks were there to build something new, something pure. That’s all Blake could ask for after the events that lead her back to Team RWBY.

That led her back to the ruined village. The place that started all these memories tonight. Though their search today didn’t find any of Salem’s forces nor stragglers loyal to the White Fang, they undoubtedly would encounter both in the future. With her newfound view, and Team RWBY here to support her, there would be no running away. No backing down. Beacon had once been a symbol of hope for Blake. Then it became a symbol of what was lost. Now? Beacon stood as a symbol of unity to Blake. A symbol of what could happen when people work together, put their own self-interests aside, and create something for the good of society. That was the legacy Beacon had created, and Blake fully intended to help get the world back to the days where Beacon was a prosperous huntsman and huntress academy. Unified from the past, for the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Well this one took a bit longer than I thought it would. Real life does that sometimes. Don't fret, I'm already working on the final installment for this series! I also have some more stuff in the works. The support and appreciation has been awesome here, and I'm excited to get some more work out for you guys!


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